1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for recognizing a processing instruction written on a medium, an image processing method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a technique in which a computer analyzes an image on a sheet of paper read by a scanner and recognizes text written on the paper. For example, such a technique can be used to easily extract money amounts and dates written in a plurality of forms and to enter the extracted data to processing such as adding the data. However, instructing the computer on where the various types of data are written in the sheets to automatically perform such processing is to be performed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-145611 discusses a technique in which an answer sheet to be processed and a processing instruction sheet are read by a series of reading processes. The processing instruction sheet describes processing instruction information for instructing which columns are to be processed and the processing to be performed on the contents written in the columns in the answer sheet form. The processing instruction information is then detected and analyzed based on the read data of the processing instruction sheet. As a result, write-in regions which are to be processed on the form and processing contents for each region can be recognized.
According to the above-described method, the regions to be processed and the processing contents corresponding to the regions are read and recognized by the apparatus by a user filling in the processing instruction sheet according to the rules. However, the rules in a case where the user fills in the processing instruction sheet by hand cannot be changed as appropriate.